Secrets of the Past
by Moonlit Sea
Summary: When something you did in your childhood returns to haunt you, who do you turn to? Sequel to What was Once Lost is Now Found
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Secrets of the Past.  
****By: Moonlit Sea**

**Summary**: when something you did in your childhood returns to haunt you, who do you turn to?

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Beyblade or any of its characters (anything else you don't recognise I own)

**A/N:** this story takes place eight years after What was Once Lost is Now Found.

Chapter 1  
A young woman with long midnight blue hair sat with a young man in the doctor's office, both of them were recovering from shock from what they had just heard.

"Ar-are you sure?" the young man asked.

The doctor gave a nod, "I take it this wasn't planned." Talking to the young lady.

She shook her head still trying to get over it. _I guess it does explain a few things._ She thought.

The man stood up from his seat, as did the doctor and shook his hand. "Thank you, Doctor." He turned to the young woman, "Come on, Tiffany. We better get going."

"Hm? Oh yeah right." She got up and followed him out. On their way back Tiffany began to wonder how her friends would react when they found out. She realised that she didn't want anyone else to know, at least not until she'd properly 'digested' it herself. "Kenny…" she began to say to the young man next to her.

"Yeah?"

"Um… I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about… my… predicament." She said wondering how to word it.

Kenny gave her a quick confused look before looking back out at the road in front of him. "Why not?"

Tiffany looked down at her hands. "I uh I'm still trying to take all this in. It's all a little overwhelming. I need to sort things out in my head first."

"Okay Tiffany." He answered with a reassuring tone. "I won't tell anyone. I'll let you do that… when you're ready." He added.

Tiffany gave a sigh of relief and looked up at him, "Thanks Kenny. Do you think Ty and the others will be there when we get back?"

Taking a quick look at the dashboard clock Kenny said, "Most probably. The exhibition match should be over by now."

"Great." She said quietly and sarcastically. She wanted to get back before everyone so she could pretend like nothing happened. A few minutes later Kenny pulled into the driveway of the house. "Let's get this over with." She said getting out of the car.

-----  
Tyson was just heading back from the kitchen when he heard the front door open. "Hey Sis, Chief. Where ya been?" he asked as he followed them into the living room.

"Where? Uh…" Tiffany said while trying to think of a good excuse.

"We went to the doctors." Kenny answered as he sat on the sofa.

Tiffany felt like screaming at him for saying that but she managed to keep it in. _Just play it cool, Tiff._ She said to herself.

"The doctors? Why, what's wrong? You are feeling okay, aren't you Tiffany?" a voice asked.

Tiffany turned and saw Max standing in the doorway with a worried look on his face. "Fine, Max. Just fine." She answered.

"Then why did you go to the doc's?" a confused Tyson asked.

"Er… I wanted to ask him something." Hoping she sounded believable as she turned back. "So how the match go?" trying to change the subject.

"You didn't really think we'd lose, did you?" Ray asked jokingly.

Tiffany chuckled, "No, but it doesn't hurt to ask." Walking off to her room.

Max looked at Tyson who seemed to be thinking the same thing he was, as he gave a nod Max went after Tiffany. Tyson turned his attention to Kenny. "Chief, are you _sure_ she's okay." He asked his voice sounding more curious than worried.

"Yes, Tyson. I'm sure."

Tyson wasn't sure whether to believe him or not.

"If there was anything wrong with her I'm sure you'd be one of the first to know, Tyson." Kai said as he saw the doubt in his eyes.

Tyson sighed and nodded. "I suppose you're right, Kai." He said. "But it wouldn't be the first time she's kept a secret." He muttered to himself.

-----  
Max walked into their room and saw Tiffany staring out the window. Quietly he crept up behind her and put his arms around her waist making her jump.

"Max…" she said with relief and shock as she looked at him, "You scare the life out of me."

Max smiled and Tiffany looked back out the window as she gradually began to lean into him.

"Tiffany." Max whispered, she giggled as his breath tickled her ear. "Is everything okay?"

She gave him a slightly confused look. "Everything's fine."

"You're sure. You're not hiding anything."

She smiled at him, turned in his arms so she was facing him and put her arms around his neck. "Max, I love you and I would never keep anything from you."

Max returned the smile and leaned in to kiss her.

-----  
Later that evening Kenny caught up with Tiffany. "When are you planning on telling them?" he asked hurriedly. "Tyson keeps asking me if I'm sure you're okay." He added rather annoyed.

"Sorry Kenny." She apologised "For some reason my bro doesn't think I can take care of myself."

"Answer the question."

"Soon. Okay." She answered. "Hey, how about we give Firefly a little exercise, huh? It might help take your mind off all this." _And mine too_.

"Sure. Let me grab my laptop and I'll see you in the garden." Walking off to his room.

-----  
Max and Tyson sat in the living room watching the two in the garden.

"Max…" Tyson began.

"Yeah?" Max answered as he looked over at the blue haired blader.

"Do you…do you believe her when she says that there's nothing wrong?"

Max nodded, "Yeah, I do."

Tyson looked over at his best friend. "You don't think she's hiding something."

"No Tyson, I don't. I admit that I was suspicious at first, but she told me she wasn't hiding anything."

"You're sure."

Again Max nodded. "Why? Don't you think she's telling the truth?"

"I don't… know…" Tyson replied unsurely as he looked back at the garden.

Tyson's answer confused Max. "You don't know?"

"It's just this feeling I've got." Tyson tried to explain. "That something's not right." He sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head.

Max took another look out at the garden. As far as he could tell, Tiffany looked fine.

"She looks okay to me." He said, "You sure you're not reading into this too much."

"Maybe… but maybe it's something only a brother can sense."

"Hey Tyson." a voice said interrupting the conversation.

Both guys looked over to see Ray walking in.

"Yeah Ray?"

"Aren't you and Kai suppose to going out tonight?" he asked.

"Oh that's right! I totally forgot! Thanks Ray!" running out of the room.

Both Max and Ray chuckled at Tyson's forgetfulness.

"We should buy him a calendar or something." Ray commented.

"I think you're his calendar, Ray." Max joked.

"Funny Max."

"Anyway, we already tried that, remember?"

Ray thought for a moment, "Right." He said and headed for the kitchen.

"Speaking of 'going out', don't you and the Chief have things to do tonight?" Max asked following him.

"I'm not meeting her until later, Max." Ray replied. A sudden thought crossed his mind and he looked over at Max with a curious look upon his face. "You wouldn't want to get rid of us now, would you?" his voice having a slight teasing tone.

Max chuckled nervously. "Me? No, why would I want to do that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe so you can be _alone_ with Tiffany." He half teased as he stressed the word 'alone'.

A small blush appeared on Max's face. "I-I don't know what you're talking about, Ray."

Ray gave a small chuckle, "Ssssure you don't." he said making Max blush even more.

-----  
Dinner came and went and not long after Kenny, Max and Tiffany all sat watching TV. Thirty minutes later Tiffany got up and went to the kitchen, she came back a few moments later carrying crisps and chocolate as well as other food items. Max looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "You know your becoming more like Tyson everyday." He teased.

"Hm hm. Very funny Max. I am e…" she stopped mid-sentence realising what she was about to reveal.

"You're what?" he asked curiously.

She smiled at him, "Just going to say that I _am_ his sister." Sighing mentally with relief. _Phew, close one. Good cover up._

_Tyson's right. There _is_ something wrong with her. But why all the secrecy Tiff?_ Max wondered as she sat down next to him.

"Ow!" Tiffany suddenly yelped.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Max asked suddenly worried.

"Something's digging into my hip." She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out her blade. She chuckled, "Oh yeah. I forgot I put Firefly there." She looked out into the garden.

Max sighed with relief glad it wasn't anything serious. He settled down with her again only to be confused when she got up and left for the garden. He looked over at Kenny who didn't seem to have noticed she'd left.

"Chief."

"Hm?" Kenny answered trying to concentrate on the TV.

"Tell me, why did Tiffany _really_ go to the doctors?"

Kenny now looked over at the blonde blader. "She wanted to ask him something. She didn't tell me what."

"Why did you go with her? I mean, why didn't she ask me?"

Kenny shrugged in response. "Guess the only appointment she could get was today, and knowing that you would be busy she didn't want to bother you."

"She still could of asked me. Kai could've taken my place. It wasn't as if we were in a tournament or anything."

"Max, I can only guess why she asked me. If you want to know the real reason, I suggest you go ask her."

"Wow." Max blinked in slight shock "You know for a moment there you actually sounded a little like Kai." He chuckled at the surprise on Kenny's face at his comment.

-----  
Tiffany sighed as Firefly spun in the beydish. "I always found blading helped me to think." She said quietly to herself. Suddenly a green blade 'crashed' into Firefly sending them backwards. "What the…" she said in confusion "Okay, who's out there?" she said into the night. No one answered, she looked down at the blade that was now attacking Firefly. _There's something familiar about that blade_ she thought. "Firefly, Hyper Gallop!" to Tiffany's amazement the attacking blade dodged her attack. "How the… hm…" she thought out loud. "Let's see how you handle this… Firefly, use Thunder Strike!" calling out her bit beast. Firefly rose from her blade and flapped her wings at the opposing blade sending sound waves in its direction. But again the opposing blade seemed to somehow anticipate this and dodged the attack. The blade seemed to know all her moves before she even made them. Tiffany gave a slight growl _Who _are _you and why do you seem so familiar_ she wondered. She was about to tell Firefly to attack when she realised that her blade was flying through the air and landed at her feet. She stared at it in shock _I lost? But how?_ That was when she heard "Now I _know_ something's up." She looked up and saw Max stepping out of the shadows. "I thought that blade looked familiar." She stated.

"You're keeping secrets again, Tiffany." He said bluntly.

"Huh? What are going on about, Max? What secrets?" she was confused. What did he mean by 'you're keeping secrets.'

"Why did you go to the doctor's? What was it that you wanted to know? Why didn't you ask me to go with you?" he asked seriously.

Max's seriousness was starting to scare Tiffany she'd never seen him so…. serious before. "Max… you're starting to scare m-me."

Max saw how scared she looked, he sighed downheartedly and looked down at the ground. Tiffany walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked her and saw the worry on her face. "I'm sorry, Tiff. Its just…" he stopped wondering how to put how he felt into words.

She smiled at him, "It's okay, Maxie." she said with a slight cheeky smile. She finally understood what he meant earlier and gave him a quick kiss, she rested her forehead against his, closing her eyes. "I made a promise to you that I would never keep secrets like that again. I haven't broken that promise and I never will."

Max could hear the sincerity in her voice and gave a nod. "Okay then."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

Tyson lay awake that night thinking about his sister. He couldn't explain it but he knew there was something wrong with her. What he couldn't understand was why she wasn't telling any of them.

"Tyson? Anything wrong?" Kai asked him.

"Hm?"

"I asked if anything was wrong." Turning on his side to look at his boyfriend.

"No. Nothing's wrong, Kai."

"Then why are you still up?"

"Just thinking, that's all." Tyson replied.

Kai raised an eyebrow, "You and thinking don't go together." He joked.

"Funny, Kai. Real funny."

Kai gave a small smile. "Seriously, Tyson. What's wrong?" a small ounce of worry seeping into his voice.

"It's nothing, Kai. Sorry if I woke you." Tyson said turning on his side so that his back was to Kai.

Kai pulled him onto his back again. "Tyson, I know something's wrong. Tell me what's got you so worried."

Tyson sighed, "It's Tiffany. I know she said she's okay and everything but…"

"You think she's keeping things from us again." Kai said finishing his sentence.

Tyson nodded. Kai lay on his back and put his hands behind his head as he looked at the ceiling. "Why don't you ask Kenny? I'm sure he'd tell you if there was anything wrong." He reasoned.

"That's just it." Tyson said moaning a little. "He says that she's fine too."

"So what's the problem?" he asked a tad confused.

Tyson let out frustrated sigh and rested his head on Kai's chest. Kai looked down at him for a few moments before smiling and putting an arm around Tyson's waist.

"They both say that she's fine, but I know she isn't. I can't explain it, I just _know_ she isn't." Tyson buried his face in Kai's chest "It's driving me crazy!" he said his voice muffled by Kai's chest.

"I thought you were already crazy. After all, you fell for me didn't you."

"That's not even funny, Kai." Came Tyson's muffled reply.

"Sorry, Tyson. Just trying to cheer you up." Tyson looked up at him, a little surprised by Kai's words. "What?" Kai asked seeing the surprised look on his lovers face.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Kai?" he asked jokingly.

Kai raised an eyebrow then rolled his eyes.

-----

The next morning Kenny walked into the kitchen hoping for a quick breakfast. He was surprised when he couldn't find anything. _Don't tell me Tyson's been at it again._ He thought with a sigh. Max, Kai and Ray walked in.

"Mornin', Chief." Max greeted.

"What's up?" Ray asked seeing the half annoyed look on the guy's face.

"It appears Tyson's been at it again." Kenny answered.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Chief?" Max asked with confusion.

"There's barely any food left!" he half moaned.

"Oh great." Ray said unenthusiastically.

"So now what are we suppose to do for breakfast?" Max asked getting annoyed.

"That's simple, Max." Kai answered. "Go out and get some."

Max directed a small growl in Kai's direction. Kenny wrote a quick note telling Tiffany what happened and they all headed out the door. Half an hour later Tyson walked downstairs and into the kitchen. "Mornin'." He said sleepily not realising their was no one in the room. He didn't even notice the note on the table as he walked over to the cupboard to get out the cereal, only see it not there. "Huh? Okay, who's eaten it all." He said slightly annoyed and more awake.

"Tyson? Who are you talking to?" a female voice asked.

Tyson turned round upon hearing the voice. "Hm? Oh, mornin' Sis. I'm talking to the guys, who else do you think I'm talking to?"

Tiffany looked round the kitchen before saying, "But… there's no one else here, Bro." looking a tad confused.

"Huh?" Tyson then realised that he was alone. "Hey, where'd everyone go?"

Tiffany shrugged, "Maybe they left coz they couldn't stand your snoring any longer." She teased. "Honestly, I don't how Kai can stand it." Tyson raised an eyebrow and gave her a curiously annoyed look. she chuckled. "You've been hanging round Kai _way_ too long. You're starting to pick up his habits." She walked over to the kettle and began to make herself a drink.

Tyson watched her, he still had this feeling that something wasn't right. He sighed and looked at the table. "Hey, there's a note." He said as he went over to it.

"What's it say?" she asked turning to him.

Tyson read through it, "What! I did not!" he burst out.

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Ty, I'm not a mind reader you know."

He looked up at her confusion in his dark blue eyes. "Hm?"

She sighed and shook her head. "The note."

"What about it?"

She felt like screaming. "Sometimes Tyson, I wonder how we're ever related." She said half jokingly.

"Hey." He replied a little offended.

She chuckled and smiled. "So… are you going to tell me or do I have to come over and snatched it out of your hand?"

"I'd like to see you do that." He said partly challengingly.

"You asked for it." She walked over to him and went to grab the note out of his hand but he moved it out of the way just before she got there. She put her hand on her hips and gave him an annoyed look then tried again, but again he moved it out of the way giving her a small smug smile.

"Your enjoying this, aren't you."

"You bet." He chuckled. "It's not often I get to tease you. Max normally interferes."

Tiffany gave a small low growl and reach out to grab the note again, to which Tyson conveniently moved it and held it above her just high enough so she couldn't reach it. After two more attempts of trying to grab it she gave up. "Fine! Don't let me read it then, see if I care!" walking back over the kettle that just boiled.

Tyson blinked, he wasn't expecting her to give in so soon. "Okay okay I'll read what it says." He said after a moments hesitation. After getting no response from her he cleared his throat and began to read. " _'Tiffany. Max, Kai, Ray and I have gone to get some breakfast as Tyson as eaten everything in the house… again.'_ I don't know why he said that, I haven't eaten a thing since yesterday. Kai can back me up on that." He said adding his thoughts in. Tiffany gave a small chuckle at Tyson's last comment, which made him look up at her and raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing." She replied in a singsong voice as she poured the hot water into her mug.

"Riiight." Tyson said disbelievingly with a slight roll of his eyes. He went back to reading the note. " _'We shouldn't be too long. We'll see you when we get back. Kenny.'_ "

"So… did you?" she suddenly asked.

"Did I what?" he replied answering her with a question as he looked up at her.

"Did you eat all the food?" Although she sounded serious Tyson couldn't help but notice a tiny hint of worry and guilt in her voice. He was about to answer when they both heard the sound of mail coming through the letterbox. A smile almost instantly came to Tiffany's face. "I'll get the mail!" she said hurriedly with excitement and ran out the kitchen.

"W-huh?" was all Tyson could say about his sister's sudden 'mood swing'. He followed her out into the hallway and towards the front door. "Since when have you been so interested in getting mail?" he asked partly sarcastic as he lent against the wall.

"Since Kara told me that she got engaged." Tiffany answered happily looking through the letters.

"Hm. Why is it everyone seems to be getting engaged?" he said rhetorically. "First it's you and Max, then it's Kara and… whoever it is, who's next? The Chief?"

Tiffany gave a small chuckle and looked over her shoulder at him, since her hair partly covered her face Tyson didn't notice the evil glint in her eye. "Well…" she began in a knowingly teasing voice.

"What! You don't mean…" he stopped when he heard her trying to suppress her laughter. "Oh ha ha very funny." He said when he realised she joking around.

Tiffany burst out with laughter unable to control it anymore. "Y-you so set yourself up f-for that one, Ty."

Tyson folded his arms and turned his head away, "Hn." Tiffany's laughter dwindled down to short little snickers. "When you're quite finished laughing." He said now looking over at her with the most serious look he could manage.

Tiffany bit her lip to stop herself from laughing again. Tyson looked so much like Kai right now it was funny. She cleared her throat to get rid of the last remnants of laughter. "Hey, don't worry about it, Bro. I'm sure Kai will ask you sooner or later." She said with a slight chuckle as she walked down the hall.

"Wait… that wasn't what I…" a red blush tainting his cheeks.

4


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

Ray, Max, Kai and Kenny were heading back to the house after having breakfast and doing a quick food shopping.

"I can't believe Tyson did this again." Kenny complained.

"Yeah, you're gonna have to control him better, Kai." Ray joked.

Max chuckled, "No one can control Tyson." he said to which everyone but Kai laughed.

Kai looked at them all through the rear view mirror. "Tyson didn't do it." He stated.

"How do you know that, Kai?" Ray asked the crimson-eyed blader beside him.

"I just do." He replied.

"Then who?" Max asked confused "Surely it couldn't be any of us."

"That just leaves Tiffany." Kenny said.

"No!" Max said forcefully. "You're not pinning this on her just because she's Tyson's sister."

Ray turned in his seat to look at Max, "But think about it, Max. She is the only one left and as you pointed out earlier, it couldn't be any of us." He said calmly.

"I refuse to believe that she has anything to do with this."

"How do you know it wasn't her." Kai suddenly said.

"How do you know it wasn't Tyson." Max retaliated.

"How about we just say it was both of them and leave it at that." Kenny suggested.

"No!" both Max and Kai said forcefully in unison.

"Come on guys, let's not argue about it." Ray began trying to calm everyone down. "It doesn't matter who did it. It didn't cause any harm so let's just forget about it, okay?"

"Fine." Came the unified reply of Kai and Max.

-----  
Tiffany stood staring out her bedroom window. She put her arms around her stomach and sighed. _Perhaps I need a little air._ She thought. She was about to walk out when she heard her mobile ringing. She turned to it and blinked wondering who would be calling her, a big smile came her face as she thought of who it might be. She picked it up and happily answered, "Hello."

"You're time is near." A voice said.

"Who is this?" she asked, surprised and disappointed that it wasn't who she thought it might be.

"When the time comes all will be complete."

"Who is this and how did you get my number?" she questioned.

"Be careful where you tread, Tiffany Kinomiya. For each step could be your last." The person hung up.

Tiffany looked at her phone strangely, _weirdo_ she thought as she put her phone back down on the bedside table. One thing puzzled her though, _what did they mean by 'When the time comes all will be complete.'? _

-----  
"Guys, we're back." Kenny called out.

"Where is everyone?" Ray asked when no one greeted them.

"Tyson? Tiffany?" Max called out.

"This is weird. They can't both be 'gone'." Kenny said.

"Maybe they just went out." Ray reasoned.

"Without leaving a note? I told them that we wouldn't be long."

Kai looked at the stairs for a moment before deciding to go up them.

"Where's he going? Ray asked.

"He's going to see if they're upstairs. Maybe they didn't hear us." Max answered.

"Good point. They might be taking a shower." Kenny said as he walked into the kitchen and set his bags down on the table.

"Both of them?" Ray said slightly confused as both he and Max joined him.

"Ewwww. That's a picture I don't wanna have, Ray." Max said as he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head trying to get rid of the image that appeared in his mind.

"Sorry Max." he apologised.

They began to put the shopping away and when they were all done Kai walked in.

"Why is it you always 'disappear' when there's things to put away?" Max asked partly teasing.

Kai raised an eyebrow but didn't answer Max. "Tyson's taking a shower and Tiffany's asleep." he said and walked back out.

"Bet you'd like to join him." Kenny commented quietly.

"I heard that." Kai said from the other room.

"And there's an image I _don't_ want to have." Ray said, his face taking on a slight disgusted look.

"That makes two of us, Ray." Max said.

"Sorry guys." Kenny apologised.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly although everyone seemed to notice that Tiffany seemed to be… preoccupied by something. When asked she said it was nothing and wouldn't say anymore.

-----  
It was late at night and Tiffany stood watching Firefly 'do her thing'. She sighed, "Why is it that when things are going great something bad or weird happens."

"Because that's how life is. It makes you think everything's great so you get comfortable and just when you think things couldn't be better, it throws something bad in just to spite you." A voice said.

Tiffany jumped at the sound of it and turned round instantly. "Ray…" she said with a sigh of relief. "You scared me."

"Sorry Tiff. I saw you standing out here and wondered what was wrong."

She was a bit surprised when Ray called her 'Tiff', normally it was only Max and Tyson who did that. "Ray, are you okay?"

"That was actually going to be my question to you." He said.

"Huh?"

He chuckled at her reaction then noticed the annoyed look on her face and knew what she was thinking. "Don't worry, I'm not going to say how much you and Tyson are alike, I know how much you hate that."

She smiled. "So… what did you mean?"

"You seem to have a lot on your mind." He said.

She blinked and looked at him with pure confusion. "Okay, hold on. Can we start this conversation over again, because I think you lost me."

"I did lose you." He murmured looking up at the night sky. "I was just wondering if anything was wrong. Since your out here this late at night."

Tiffany forced a smile. "No, nothings wrong. Just thought I'd…" looking round for some kind of excuse, when she remembered Firefly. "Give Firefly some exercise." Turning back to her blade.

"You know you could've done that earlier. I'm sure Max or Tyson would have been pleased to help, even Kai." Ray reasoned knowing from what she said earlier that something _was_ wrong, she just didn't want him to know.

"Is there something wrong with wanting to do it on my own?" she asked slightly annoyed.

"You could've also done that earlier."

Tiffany turned back to Ray anger in her dark blue eyes. "You think you're so smart, don't you Ray."

"Not really." He gave a slight smile.

"What?" she asked in an annoyed tone as she folded her arms across her chest. Ray shook his head. "If you've got something to say, say it Ray." Her annoyance and anger were clear in her voice.

"You're hiding something from us." He stated plainly.

Her anger turned into shock, "What did you say?"

"You may be able to fool Max and Tyson but not me."

She shuddered at Ray's words "I never knew you could be so… creepy, Ray."

_Creepy? Now there's something I've never been called before_ Ray thought slightly shocked

"Mind you, this is nothing compared to how Max scared the heck out me with his 'seriousness'." Using her fingers as quotation marks.

Ray gave a small laugh at her comment. "Yeah, Max can be… frightening when he's serious. Probably because it's something you don't expect from him."

"Frightening? He was down right terrifying!" she said with a laugh.

"I have to agree with you there." He replied as he laughed.

"Of course you do. Everyone has to agree with me." She said cheekily.

"I don't know about that, Tiffany." She stuck her tongue out him and he raised an eyebrow. "Well that was useful." He said partly sarcastic.

"Yep." She grinned.

"It was you that cleaned us out, wasn't it." He suddenly stated.

"W-huh?" confused at the sudden change of subject.

"You ate all the food, not Tyson. It's because …"

"Don't say it, Ray. Please."

_So it _was_ her. _He thought.

Tiffany looked down at the ground. "How'd you know?"

"I noticed a few things the others haven't. It's also the reason you asked the Chief to take you to the doctors instead of Max, right?"

Tiffany nodded. "I was hoping I was wrong, that it was just my imagination but the doctor confirmed it." She let out a downhearted sigh.

"Why are you sad? You should be happy, it's a great thing." Tiffany turned round and started to gradually walk away. "Tiffany…" he went to walk towards her when Firefly blocked his path. He tried to go round but got blocked every time. He looked up at Tiffany then down at Firefly and back up at Tiffany. She was doing this, so she didn't have to talk about it. He sighed, "Okay then. I'll leave you to your thoughts." He started to walk back to the house then stopped and said, "If you ever wanna talk you know where to find me." and continued on.

"Thanks Ray." She whispered looking up into the night sky.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

When Max awoke the next morning he was surprised to see Tiffany was gone. He looked over at the clock, it read eight am. _She must of woken up early_ he thought. He stretched, got up and changed. He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen expecting Tiffany to already be there. "Morning. Where's Tiff?" seeing her nowhere around.

Tyson shrugged, "I thought she was still asleep."

Max shook his head, "She was gone when I woke up."

"Now that's strange. I wonder where she could be." Kenny said.

"She probably went for an early morning walk." Ray said.

Max gave a nod and sat down to breakfast.

----  
Tiffany walked the streets thinking yesterday's events over. _I should tell them, but what if…_ she sighed and sat on a nearby bench. _I really don't like keeping secrets from them, especially my bro and Max. But what will they say? How would they react to the news? That I'm… oh I can't even say it._ She sighed once again before deciding to go back and tell them. As she got up to go a small girl approached her.

"Helwo." She said with a smile.

"Hi." Tiffany replied somewhat confused.

"Are you Tiffany…" she looked down at the paper in her hand "K-K-Kino-meya?"

Tiffany could help but smiled at the small child. "Yes, I'm Tiff Kinomiya."

"I was told to tell you to…uh…um…meet someone…uh…yeah dat was it." She smiled brightly at her.

Tiffany blinked in confusion, "Meet someone?" she asked "Do you know where?"

The girl looked horrified for a moment then gave a sheepish grin. "I forgot."

Tiffany gave a small chuckle and crouched down to the girls level. "Try to see if you can remember." She said softly.

After a few minutes of um's and uh's the girl finally said, "Ships!"

"Ships?" Tiffany repeated quite confused.

"Yeah. You know where dey keep da ships."

"The docks?"

The girl nodded. "Dere."

Tiffany stood up. "I'm suppose to meet someone at the docks?" she said even more confused as she blinked. "Do you know…" she looked down at the girl only to find she was gone. "Hey, Where'd you go?" looking round but not seeing her. _I'm suppose to meet someone at the docks?_ She repeated to herself _but who?_ She gasped as she thought, _what if Ray told Kai about my… and he wants to talk to me about it. Oooh, not good. Soooo not good!_ She gave a combination of a frustrated and downhearted sigh. _Well… guess there's only one way to find out._

----  
It had been eight hours since Tiffany had left and still she had not returned.

"Guys, I'm getting worried." Tyson said.

"Yeah, it's getting late." Max said.

"I'm sure she has a good reason guys." Kenny said.

"Oh yeah, like what?" Tyson said a little more forceful than he intended.

"She's probably at your grandpa's or met up with an old friend and forgot about the time."

Upon that answer Tyson went over to the phone. "Hey Grandpa, it's me."

"Anyway, I don't think we should be really worried. Tiffany's old enough to take care of herself." Kenny concluded.

Max wasn't to sure, he couldn't help but feel there was something wrong, something terribly wrong.

Seeing Max's worry Ray said, "If she's not back by tomorrow morning we'll go and look for her. Okay Max?" he was also worried about her, especially with the 'condition' she was in, but he also knew that Kenny was right.

Max gave a nod and Tyson came back from the phone. "Well she's not at Grandpa's." he stated "He said he hasn't seen her since the last time we went over there."

"I'm sure she's fine, Tyson." Kai said, "If she's not back tomorrow or we haven't heard from her, we'll go out and look." Mostly repeating what Ray said.

Tyson thought for moment, sighed and said, "Okay Kai."

That night Max tossed and turned but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't go to sleep. He looked over at Tiffany's side of the bed, placed a hand there and sighed. _I never knew how lonely it would be without her_ he thought. Eventually he got up and headed downstairs hoping he could find something to help him sleep.  
Tyson also couldn't sleep that night, he had just made himself a steaming cup of hot chocolate and was on his way back to his room when he saw Max staring out the window.

"Max?" getting no reply he headed over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, you okay bud?" he asked slightly worried.

"Hm? Oh hi Tyson." seeing the hot chocolate in his hand added "You couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"How'd you guess?"

Max looked down at the cup making Tyson look also. "Oh." he looked back out the window.

"You're thinking about Tiff, right?"

Max gave a nod, "I was remembering back when we were in the US and I had that strange dream, you know."

"The one where Tiff betrays us and ran off with the Mythicals and that guy." He asked partly curious, partly knowing. Max gave another nod. "What about it? Wait…" Tyson said suddenly realising where Max was going with this. "You don't think that she's run off with someone… do you?"

Max shifted his gaze over at Tyson then back to the window. "To be honest, Tyson. I really don't know what to think.

Tyson sighed and took a sip of his drink. "I'm worried about her too Max, but I don't think she'd do that." He said and left him to his thoughts.

Max sighed and said quietly, "How can you be so sure?"


End file.
